Netting for football goal post

ABSTRACT

A netting material attached to a football goal post where the netting is secured at the upper two corners to the back side of the vertical uprights to provide a slack loose netting attachment behind the goal pots to collect successfully kicked footballs kicked between the uprights and the horizontal crossbar. A plurality of retainer ties are secured to the vertical border of the netting and loosely looped around the adjacent vertical upright, while a bottom retainer tie or ties are looped around the crossbar, provided the netting is sufficiently open at the bottom to enable successfully kicked footballs to drop to the ground beneath the goal post. The retainer ties maintain loose engagement of the netting with the uprights and crossbar to provide slack loose attachment to the backside of the goal post. Raising and lowering of the netting on the goal post can be manual alignment or alternatively activated by a pulley system comprising a pulley wheel secured to each upright and the load-bearing end of the pulley rope attached to the mesh net.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] This invention pertains to the sport of football, and moreparticularly to mesh netting attached to football goal posts to indicateto kickers, coaches, referees, and the spectator public whether asuccessful field goal or extra point has been kicked between theuprights and above the crossbar of the goal posts.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] In the game of football, goal posts are located at either end ofthe playing field and specifically are used for scoring distant fieldgoals and close in extra points after a touchdown has been scored. Themodern goal post ordinarily comprises a lower horizontal crossbarlocated 10 feet above the ground level playing field with the crossbarattached to and supporting upwardly extending laterally spaced verticaluprights. Ordinarily, a single 10-foot high center supporting postsecurely cemented in the ground and extending upwardly supports thecrossbar, although older goal posts may have two laterally spacedsupporting ground posts. A successful field goal or extra point isscored by kicking the ball above the horizontal crossbar and between thevertical uprights. In high school, college, and junior football, theuprights ordinarily are 20 feet high but can be 30 feet high if desired,although some older junior installations can have 10-foot uprights. Theuprights in professional football must be 30 feet high. College andprofessional football uprights are laterally spaced 18 feet 6 inchesapart inner dimension between uprights, while high school and juniorfootball uprights are laterally spaced 23 feet 4 inches apart innerdimension between the uprights. In all levels of football, includingprofessional, the goal posts are located 10 yards beyond the goal lineon a line called the end line. The supporting post ordinarily is locatedbehind the end line but bends forward slightly at the supportingconnection with the crossbar so that the crossbar is located directlyabove the end line.

[0003] In high school, and junior football particularly, the kickers areyoung players and ordinarily not sufficiently strong enough toeffectively loft a robust kick as is common in college and professionalfootball. A field goal kicked in high school or junior football, as wellas many extra points if successful, frequently are low trajectory kickswhich barely clear the crossbar. Such kicks passing close to the crossbar are difficult to judge, even though the referee may be well placed,due to the perspective of the referee looking upwardly, the lowtrajectory, and particularly the difficulty of judging whether the ballpassed just above or just below the horizontal crossbar. Such calls arejudgment calls by the referee and cannot be verified by video recordingdue to distortions in videos. The perspective is even more difficult tojudge by distant players, coaches and spectators, all having differentviews from their respective distant locations. Judging kicks between theuprights is not as difficult, except when the ball passes very close toan upright, which again is a judgment problem common to college andprofessional football as well. A football kicked on an angle toward thegoal post from one side of the field, rather than from the center of thefield straight away, is difficult to determine whether the footballpasses inside or outside the uprights as the football passes theuprights on an angle. All such close calls are judgment calls by thereferees depending on their skill, perspective, eyesight, and positionrelative to the ball and the goal posts. Although not as critical,practice kicking during football practice sessions at all levelslikewise provide difficult assessments by distant kickers and coaches asto whether such practice kicks are indeed successful kicks. Practicekicking has the added inconvenience of retrieving numerous footballskicked well beyond the goal posts even though the practice kicks may berepeatedly successful kicks.

[0004] It now has been found that by locating a loose fitting mesh netbetween the uprights and above the horizontal crossbar of a footballgoal post provides players, coaches, spectators, and especiallyofficiating referees, with a verifying means that a kick is successful.Loose fitting slack netting disposed between the uprights and above thehorizontal crossbar will catch a successfully kicked football andindicate to all that a successful kick has been made. The loose nettingis particularly advantageous for footballs passing close to the uprightand/or the horizontal cross bar, especially angled kicks, to determineon which side of the uprights and crossbar the ball passed. A successfulkick caught by the netting will cause the loose fitting netting tobellow rearwardly of the goal post along with dropping the kickedfootball to the ground below the goal posts. An unsuccessful kick willcause the loose netting to do nothing. The netting is particularlyuseful for high school football, junior football, or lower level schoolfootball, where the young kickers typically kick low trajectoryfootballs that seldom exhibit high accurate trajectory over the 10-foothigh crossbar. The netting adds more certainty and accuracy to thejudgment calls by officiating referees and essentially eliminatescontroversies over whether the judgment calls are accurate. The loosefitting netting is particularly advantageous in practice sessions wheresuccessfully kicked footballs are caught by the netting and merely dropto the ground below the goal posts. In all levels of football, practicekicks send the football well beyond the goal posts, but the loosenetting attached to the goal posts will eliminate chasing successfulkicks as well as indicate to the kicker that the practice kick wassuccessful. These and other advantages of this invention will becomemore apparent by referring to the drawings and the detailed descriptionof the invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] Briefly, the invention pertains to mesh netting attached to thebackside of the laterally spaced vertical uprights of football goalposts to provide a slack loose netting to catch successfully kickedfootballs and indicate to all that the kick was successful. The uppercorners of the netting are securely attached to the goal posts on thebackside of the upper ends of the uprights. The vertical periphery ofthe netting is loosely attached to the respective adjacent upright by aplurality of vertically spaced retainer tie means secured to theperiphery of the netting and loosely looped around the adjacent upright.The bottom periphery of the netting can be attached similarly with oneor more retainer ties, provided the bottom of the netting issufficiently slack and loose fitting to permit a successfully kickedfootball to drop to the ground through an opening between the bottom ofthe netting and the crossbar. In preferred aspects of the invention, thenetting can be raised or lowered on the goal post by a coordinatedpulley system adapted to raise the mesh netting to the top of theuprights or lower the netting to form bundled netting proximate thehorizontal crossbar when not in use. The pulley means for raising andlowering the netting can be manual or automated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006]FIG. 1 is a rear elevation view of a football goal post havingmesh netting attached rearwardly of the uprights and horizontal crossbarof the goal post in accordance with this invention.

[0007]FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of the goal post and netting takenalong lines 2-2 in FIG. 1.

[0008]FIG. 3 is a rearward partial perspective view of the goal post andnetting shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0009]FIG. 4 is an enlarged partial side elevation view of the upperright hand corner of the netting for attachment to an adjacent upright.

[0010]FIG. 5 is a side elevation view of the goal post showing a pulleysystem for raising and lowering the netting on the goal post shown inFIG. 1.

[0011]FIG. 6 is an enlarged partial view of FIG. 5 indicatingattachments of the netting to the pulley system shown in FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0012] Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference charactersindicate like parts, FIG. 1 is a rear elevation view of a football goalpost 10 having laterally spaced uprights 12, an interposed lowerhorizontal crossbar 14 secured to and supporting the uprights 12, and acenter ground supporting post 16 supporting the crossbar 14 and uprights12. The center supporting post 16 ordinarily is 10 feet high, while theuprights 12 ordinarily are 20 feet high for junior, high school andcollege football, but can be 30 feet high. The uprights 12 are 30 feethigh for professional football. The uprights 12 are 23 feet 4 inchesapart for high school and junior football, and 18 feet 6 inches apartfor college and professional football.

[0013] The goal post 10 has lightweight mesh netting 18 attachedrearwardly of the goal post uprights 12 and the horizontal bar 14. Thenetting 18 comprises mesh net material 20 attached to an enlargedperipheral border cord comprising laterally spaced vertical border cords22 for stretching the netting 18 sideways and vertically spaced upperand lower horizontal border cords 24 for stretching the netting 18vertically. The vertical border cords 22 can be braided poly cordage orwoven rope or similar material of sufficient strength for raising andlowering the netting 18 along with maintaining vertical and sidewaysstretch in approximately rectangular form. The upper and lowerhorizontal border cords 24 can be similar material but of lesserstrength as needed for maintaining the netting 18 stretched vertically,considering that upper cord 24 a requires some strength for supportingthe weight of the netting 18, while the lower cord 24 b primarilymaintains the netting 18 stretched vertically and laterally. The meshnetting 18 ordinarily is rectangular to approximate the rectangularopening between the laterally spaced uprights 12 and above thehorizontal crossbar 14, which define a successful kick area of the goalpost.

[0014] Referring to FIG. 2, the netting 18 is located and attachedrearward of the goal post uprights 12 and the horizontal bar 14 to avoidany interference with the trajectory of the kicked football approachingthe goal post 10. The vertical support post 16 is shown slightlydisplaced rearwardly in FIG. 2 for clarification, which represents mostinstallations, although some older designs can be aligned inapproximately the same vertical plane with the uprights 12 andhorizontal crossbar 14. The upper horizontal border cord 24 a supportingthe netting 18 vertically is stretched laterally between the respectiveuprights 12 and attached to an upper connecting means secured to thebackside of each upright 12. A useful upper connecting means comprisesan upper eyebolt screw 26 secured to the upper backside of each verticalupright 12 and extending laterally rearward, as shown in FIG. 4. In asimilar manner, the lower horizontal border cord 24 b of the netting 18likewise can be stretched laterally sideways between the respectiveuprights and similarly attached to a lower connecting means secured tothe lowermost end of each upright 12 proximate the juncture between theuprights 12 and crossbar 14. A useful lower connecting means comprises alower eyebolt screw 28 similar to eyebolt 26 secured to the lowermostbackside of the upright 12, such as shown in FIG. 4, or alternativelycan be secured to the distal ends of the crossbar 14, as shown FIG. 2.In preferred aspects of this invention, only upper attachments to therespective upper ends of the adjacent upright are used, while the bottomof the netting 18 is loosely attached to the crossbar 14 by looselylooped retainer ties 38 described below.

[0015] The netting 18 further contains an extension attachment means 30at the upper two corners of the rectangular netting 18 to facilitateclipping or tying attachment to adjacent upper connectors 26. FIG. 4 isa partial side elevation view of the upper right corner of the netting18 with an extension attachment means 30 comprising an extension tabmember 32 with internal grommet 34 for clipping or tying attachment ofthe attachment means 30 to the upper eyebolt 26. If lower eyebolts 28are used in less preferred aspects of the invention, similar lower tabconnectors 30 are attached at the lower corners of the netting 18 forclipping or tying attachment to lower eyebolts 28. The upper corners ofthe netting 18 can be attached to the upper ends of the respectiveuprights 12 by a variety of attachments means, primarily utilizing thecorner tabs 32 and grommets 34, including for instance, snap hooks orbolts or ties or other securing means to secure the grommet 34 to therespective eyebolt. Alternatively, a screw or bolt can be securedthrough the grommet 34 directly to the respective upright 12.

[0016] Each side border cord 22 of the netting 18 contains a pluralityof loose fitting retainer ties 36 vertically spaced and secured to therespective side border cord 22. The retainer ties 36 are adapted to beloosely looped around the adjacent upright 12, as best viewed inenlarged FIG. 4, to maintain a slack loose connection of the netting 18to the adjacent upright 12 while in use. The retainer ties 36 can beattached after the netting 18 is attached to eyebolts 26 or pre-attachedintermittently to the vertical border cord 22. The netting 18 shouldcontain a sufficient number of retainer ties 36 to maintain the netting18 reasonably close to the adjacent upright 12 to prevent a kickedfootball from slipping between the vertical border cord 22 and adjacentupright 12. The intent is to cause a successful kicked football toencounter the netting 18 and drop to the bottom of the netting 18 andeventually drop to the ground. Typically 4 to 10 retainer ties 36attaching each vertical side cord 22 to the adjacent upright 12 are asufficiently useful number of ties, where the useful number depends onthe height of the upright 12. Particularly useful retainer ties 36 areabout 15 to 20 inches long forming a flexible ring diameter of about 5to 6 inches, although in use the flexible retainer ties 36 tend toresemble an elongated oval shape. The loose attachment of the netting 18to the uprights 12 maintains a loose fitting intermediate slack sectionof the netting 18 stretched between the uprights 12 while slightlydisplaced behind the uprights 12 and the horizontal crossbar 14.Preferably the retainer ties 36 are secured to vertical border cords 22by sewing, clipping, or other secure attachment to assure the retainerties 36 remain in place to control the netting 18 movement and avoidundesirable flapping or similar uncontrolled netting movement, whileloosely engaging the vertical uprights 12. The retainer ties 36 can beheavy-duty plastic tie straps, or woven plastic or hemp roping, or heavyvelcro material strapping, or similar flexible material, preferablycontaining a snap button connector for manually connecting the ends ofthe ties 36 together to form a loop around the uprights 12.

[0017] The bottom horizontal 24 b border cord of the netting 18 containsone or more loose fitting bottom retainer ties 38 for maintaining thebottommost border cord 24 b in close proximity to the horizontalcrossbar 14, but with some loose slack and opening between the bottomborder cord 24 b and the crossbar 14 to enable a successfully kickedfootball to drop to the ground between the lower border cord 24 b andthe horizontal crossbar 24 b. Bottom retainer ties 38 can be the same ordifferent than retainer ties 36 but generally loose fitting around thehorizontal crossbar 14. A useful number of at least 1, but preferably 2to 4 bottom retainer ties 38 ordinarily can be used, although more canbe used if desired, provided a successfully kicked football can drop tothe ground through an adequate opening between the netting 18 and thecrossbar 14. The bottom retainer tie 38 can be secured to the lowerborder cord 24 b and loosely looped around the horizontal crossbar 14for attachment of the netting 18 to the crossbar 14. As indicated above,bottom retainer ties 38 are preferably used alone to secure the bottomof the netting 18 to the crossbar 14 without using bottom connectors 28or bottom attachment means 30.

[0018] In accordance with a desired aspect of this invention, thenetting 18 can be alternately raised or lowered on the goal post 10 bymeans of a pulley system shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, wherein a fixed pulleywheel 50 is operatively attached to the backside of each upright 12 nearthe uppermost top and above each eyebolt connector 28. The pulley wheel50 has a pulley rope operatively inserted over the pulley wheel 50 in astandard single fixed wheel pulley arrangement where the load bearingend 53 of the pulley rope is threaded downwardly through the uppereyebolt 26 and then attached to the eyelet 34 in the upper extensionconnector 30 on the upper corner of the netting 18. The pulling end 52of the pulley rope can be grasped by an individual 54 on the ground. Apulley system is provided on each upright 12 where both pulley systemsneed to be coordinated to raise or lower both sides of the netting 18simultaneously, ordinarily by an individual 54 on each side of the goalpost 10. The pulley system can be automated with a motorized pullingforce, if desired, but seemingly unnecessary due the light weight of thenetting. When the netting 18 is fully stretched and at the top of theuprights 12, the pulley wheel 50 can be locked or the pulling end 52 ofthe pulley rope can be secured to a locking mechanism at the bottom ofthe respective vertical upright 12 to maintain the netting 18 raisedagainst the backside of the goal post uprights 12 while in use. Asuitable and simple locking mechanism can comprise a hook 56 adapted tohook into a lower eyebolt 28 when the netting 18 is fully raised. Byusing two pulley systems, one on either side of the goal post 10, thenetting 18 can be easily hoisted into position behind the goal postuprights 12 for use, and thereafter released and collapsed into a foldedroll or bundle 58 at the bottom of the uprights 12 proximate thehorizontal crossbar 14 when the netting 18 is not in use, as indicatedin FIGS. 5 and 6. Collapsing the netting 18 during nonuse minimizesexposure to the elements, especially wind damage, and advantageouslyextends the useful wear life of the netting 18. In using the pulleysystem, the flexible ties 36 can be loosely attached to the respectivevertical uprights 12 to enable loose sliding upward or downward movementof the netting 18.

[0019] By attaching slack netting 18 loosely engaging the backside ofthe uprights 12, the netting 18 will avoid interference withsuccessfully kicked field goals or extra points, but will catchsuccessfully kicked footballs. By attaching the eyebolts 26 to thebackside of the goal post, the netting 18 will not interfere with akicked football hitting an upright 12 or the crossbar 14. The footballwill still have a true bounce off the upright 12 or crossbar 14, eitherby passing through the uprights 12 and over the crossbar 14 for asuccessful kick, or by not passing through and wayward of the uprights12 and/or crossbar 14 for an unsuccessful kick. The netting 18 attachedto the rearwardly directed eyebolts 26 likewise will not interfere withthe flight of the kicked ball for either a successful or wayward kick.Only a successfully kicked football will pass through the goal post 10and be caught by the netting 18. The slack or loose fitting netting 18attached to the backside of goal post upright 12 and the horizontalcrossbar 14 in accordance with this invention will catch a successfullykicked field goal or extra point and will indicate to all that asuccessful kick between the uprights 12 has been made. Questionablejudgment calls on kicks close to the uprights 12 and/or the crossbar 14,especially low trajectory kicks, will be essentially eliminated bysimple visual verification of the netting catching a successful kick.Although a major advantage of the invention is verification ofquestionably close kicked field goals and extra points in a game, thenetting 18 is similarly useful for practice kicking sessions to signifysuccessful kicks and avoid chasing kicked footballs beyond the fieldgoal 10.

[0020] Although specific embodiments and preferred aspects of theinvention have been shown and described, the invention is not intendedto be limited in scope, except as set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A netting attachment to a football goal posthaving laterally spaced vertical uprights supported by an interveninglower horizontal crossbar member attached to the lower end of thevertical uprights, the area between the vertical uprights and above thehorizontal crossbar defining a successful kick area, the crossbarsupported by at least one vertical support post, comprising: a nettingattached to the backside of the vertical uprights, the netting having amesh net secured peripherally to border edge material of laterallyspaced vertical border cords and vertically spaced top and bottom bordercords, the border edge material adapted to maintain the mesh net inapproximate rectangular form for attachment between the laterally spacedvertical uprights and deployment behind the vertical uprights and thehorizontal crossbar; the netting having a corner attachment meanssecured to the border edge material at each of the two upper corners ofthe rectangular netting for attachment of the deployed netting to thebackside of the adjacent respective vertical upright to provide upperattachment of the netting to the respective adjacent vertical upright;and each vertical border cord on the netting having a plurality ofretainer means spaced vertically for loose engagement of the respectiveadjacent vertical upright, each retainer means secured to the respectivevertical border cord and loosely looped around the adjacent verticalupright to provide loose attachment and slack deployment of the nettingbehind and between the laterally spaced vertical uprights, the deployednetting adapted to catch a football kicked between the uprights andabove the horizontal crossbar without interfering with the successfullykicked football.
 2. The netting of claim 1, wherein the retainer meanscomprises flexible ties looped around the respective vertical upright.3. The netting of claim 2, wherein the netting has at least fourretainer ties loosely attaching the netting to the respective adjacentvertical upright.
 4. The netting of claim 1, wherein one or more bottomretainer ties are secured to the bottom border cord, where the bottomretainer tie or ties are loosely looped around the horizontal crossbarwhile maintaining slack loose deployment of the netting on the backsideof the crossbar.
 5. The netting of claim 1, wherein the backside of eachvertical upright has a rearwardly directed upper connector means forrespective attachment with the respective upper attachment means securedto the border of the netting at the upper corners of the netting.
 6. Thenetting of claim 5, wherein the upper net connector means comprises aneyebolt connector secured to the backside of the respective upright. 7.The netting of claim 1, wherein the upper corner attachment means on thenetting are attached directly to the upper ends of the vertical uprightsby securing each corner attachment means directly to the respectiveupright.
 8. The netting of claim 2, wherein each retainer tie attachedto the respective vertical border cord comprises a flexible straploosely looped around the adjacent vertical upright to maintain slackloose attachment of the netting to the respective adjacent verticalupright.
 9. The netting of claim 1, wherein the netting is raised andlowered on the goal post by a pulley means.
 10. The netting of claim 9,wherein the netting is loosely engaging the respective adjacent verticalupright while raising and lowering the netting.
 11. The netting of claim9, wherein the pulley means comprises two separate pulley systems, whereone pulley system is attached to the upper end of one vertical upright,and the other pulley system is attached to the other vertical upright,where each pulley system has a pulley wheel operatively attached to itsrespective vertical upright with a pulley rope operatively engaging thepulley wheel, the pulley rope having a load bearing end attached to thenetting and a pulling end for exerting or releasing force applied to thepulley rope to raise or lower the netting.
 12. The netting of claim 1,wherein each pulley system comprises a fixed wheel pulley attached tothe top of its respective vertical upright with the load bearing end ofthe pulley rope passing through the top connector means and attached tothe netting for raising the netting and securing the netting to theupper connectors respectively on the respective vertical uprights. 13.The netting of claim 11, wherein the two pulley systems are operative tolower the netting to collect into a netting bundle.